Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

Back then, everyone was very poor and had nothing. A brightly colored hair tie could be treasured by a little girl for a long time.

That's probably why she cherishes this moment so much.

Fushimi River thought.

He picked up the hair tie, worried about losing it, and after thinking for a while, tied it around his wrist.

"It suits me quite well."

……

Once they left the topic of Asano Megumi, they seemed to have nothing left to talk about. Higashino Yuka then chimed in.

"Mr. Oikawa, while your 'Ikkyu the Clever' is interesting, I'd much rather read your shonen manga, and even better if you had seinen manga!"

She didn't mince words; as a reader, that's what you have to be—eager and thirsty.

Fushimikawa was surprised to find that her friend, who came with her high school classmate, was actually her fan.

"Didn't you notice? It's marked in 'Elementary School Fourth Grader' that the Oikawa version of 'Doraemon' will be published in 'Weekly Shonen Sunday' on Tuesday, September 20th."

Fushimikawa is very patient with his readers.

"Ah!" Yuka Higashino exclaimed, her mouth agape. "That's wonderful! I can't wait!"

She got a signed painting and chatted with Fushimikawa for a long time, so long that Nagai Miyuki became a little jealous.

The gathering didn't end until an hour after dinner.

"Oh, right." Higashino Yuka smiled at Fushimikawa, "I almost forgot, Asano-san is going to Waseda University."

Chapter Thirty: Grandma's Memories

Time flies, and twenty days have passed.

During this period, as time went on, readers' feedback on "Ikkyu the Clever" reached Shogakukan.

"The letter reads, 'Brother Ikkyu is so smart, I want to be like him too.' The handwriting is crooked and looks like it was written by an elementary school student."

“‘Is syrup delicious? I asked my mom to buy some, but she wouldn’t buy it for me.’ There were all sorts of letters.”

In the editorial department of "Elementary School Fourth Grader", Fukuda Tomoyuki read the contents of readers' letters while collecting the kind and valuable ones, preparing to show them to Fushimikawa.

“You still have time for this? The reader survey data has been preliminarily compiled.” Kawai reminded him, “This is Oikawa-sensei’s first step, and we can’t afford any problems.”

In the early 1960s, Shogakukan began including stamp-free postcards in its own manga magazines to survey readers about their favorite manga.

The strong will receive more resources, such as the middle color pages and the cover; the mediocre will be abandoned, and if their performance is poor for a long time, they will be eliminated.

Doraemon's performance in this regard is not ideal, ranking in the lower middle range of 4th to 6th place among the eight long-running manga series.

Now that "Ikkyu-san" has arrived, there's still room for it to decline.

"No problem, no problem, take a break, take a rest." Fukuda Tomoyuki shook his head, he was very confident that, based on the subject matter alone, "Ikkyu" could not lose.

Many manga artists who were once jealous of Fushimikawa fell silent after reading "Ikkyu".

It has the potential to be serialized for a long time.

And it could very well threaten the two top-tier comics.

One is a shoujo romance manga by Uehara-sensei, and the other is a school comedy manga that has consistently ranked second for many years.

"Ikkyu might continue to dominate the charts."

Fukuda Tomoyuki said to Kawai.

As he expected, the first episode of "Ikkyu" indeed took first place, while "Doraemon" was pushed down to seventh place.

Kawai made a bitter face: "I originally wanted Oikawa-sensei to save Doraemon's grades, but I didn't expect him to be the one kicking me when I'm down."

……

Fujiko Fujio's "Doraemon" has been rewritten by Toshiki Takei, who extracted the essence and has already serialized four chapters in the Sunday supplement.

Most Sunday readers have a habit of reading the supplement, which allowed them to learn about Doraemon in advance.

This paved the way for the second version of "Doraemon" by Oikawa, saving the step of introducing the characters.

Even so, the first episode of Fushimikawa still begins with Doraemon traveling to the modern era through a time machine to rewrite Nobita's tragic fate.

It connects characters such as Gian, Suneo, Gian, teacher, Shizuka, and Nobita.

Their personalities are also reflected in this.

It was a lively and exciting episode.

It's a very good comedy comic, with a world view, props, and a mascot, so it performed quite well. Thanks to the first chapter, it ranked third in the reader survey.

By the second episode, the ranking had plummeted to ninth place.

For a new artist and their first work to achieve this level of success, the stricter Jump magazine would already be preparing for a drastic cancellation.

The feedback from reader letters was also not very good.

However, Toshiki Takei was not in a hurry; he had already anticipated this outcome.

Publishing the first two chapters as an educational piece, allowing readers to better understand the world of Doraemon, may not have yielded good results, but it provided space for future creations. This was something he had discussed with Fushimikawa beforehand.

"Now, it's up to you, Mr. Oikawa, to do your best."

After suppressing his emotions for half a month, in November, Toshiki Takei, with a serious expression, entrusted everything to Fushimikawa.

He shouldered all the pressure from his superiors, the whispers and criticisms from his colleagues, and the negative reviews from readers, without bringing any of it to Fushimikawa.

He has done his best.

"As long as you achieve excellent results in the future, everything will be fine."

“Of course I understand.” Fushimi nodded and handed the manuscript to Takei Toshiki. “This is what you need.”

……

In the third episode, Doraemon was ranked 10th.

The 18-year-old prodigy seemed to have become a joke.

The editor at the foot of the mountain was always smiling and greeted everyone he met.

"I might become the team leader, since someone made a mistake."

"Morimoto-sensei, keep it up! You can at least draw something like Doraemon, right? Hahaha."

As he predicted, Doraemon's ratings continued to decline, and it looked like it was going to become an editorial disaster.

This gave other editors the opportunity to advance.

However, everything came to an abrupt end on November 22nd.

Years later, Shanxia still remembers that it was a foggy day, with clouds seemingly overhead, making it hard to breathe.

……

The weather was sunny and breezy, which is quite rare in winter.

Jiro Suzuki bought Weekly Shonen Sunday and brought it to Fujiko F. Fujio's studio.

"Maybe there will be a reversal," he muttered outside the door.

Sunday is indeed terrifying; even his genius junior is about to fall by the wayside.

Taking a deep breath and preparing himself mentally, he entered the studio, only to find Fujiko Fujio looking completely different than usual.

"Suzuki-kun, Fushimi is truly amazing!" Fujimoto Hiroshi exclaimed, his face flushed. "He adapted my 'Grandma's Memories' so brilliantly!"

He also bought Weekly Shonen Sunday that morning, and hurriedly flipped to Doraemon, worried that the content would still be unsatisfactory.

The result was unexpected, more exciting than he could have ever dreamed of.

"I'll definitely get into the top five!"

Seeing his teacher nod confidently, Suzuki Jiro was delighted and became curious about the fourth episode, "Doraemon".

"Please wait a moment."

He sat down and immediately began reading.

……

As usual, Nobita played a baseball game with Gian, Suneo, and others.

As an outfielder, he was distracted by the trash on the ground and did not notice the baseball rushing towards him.

The opposing team thus successfully reached base.

Nobita got a scolding from Gian.

He went home dejectedly, and as he passed a trash can, he threw the trash he had picked up from the ground into it.

This also drew my attention to a broken teddy bear on the ground.

"This is?!"

Nobita picked up his doll and hurriedly ran home.

……

“Fushimi-kun’s depiction is very detailed. Compared to him, my original drawing is much rougher.”

While Suzuki Jiro was reading "Grandma's Memories," Fujimoto Hiroshi compared the differences between the two versions.

"Although the plot is similar, Fushimi-kun drew it in a light, harmonious, and comedic style. I was consciously trying to depict reality, which made it look depressing. I should learn from him and make some changes."

The Fushimikawa version of Doraemon originates from the future and represents the pinnacle that Fujimoto Hiroshi achieved through years of reflection and continuous adjustments to Doraemon.

It's a fairly mature style.

Chapter Thirty-One: The Pinnacle of Doraemon (3000 words)

Fujimoto Hiroshi hadn't noticed it before, only thinking it was a problem with Fushimikawa's style.

But now Fushimikawa is adapting the original version drawn by Fujimoto Hiroshi himself, and when he compares the two, he sees many differences.

"Doraemon's design is also different. Although they are all round and chubby, mine is a bit too bulky. Fushimi's version is much more pleasing."